Exiles add to Sale woes

Early season high-flyers Sale slumped to their second successive Premiership defeat as London Irish recorded a comfortable victory at the Madejski Stadium.

But a crowd of just over 4,000 left with little to enthuse about from a match that had mid-table mediocrity stamped all over it.

Jarrod Cunningham's immaculate goal-kicking gave Irish a commanding 16-0 lead midway through the second half, and although Sale centre Mel Deane's well-worked try cut the deficit, there was to be no spectacular fightback.

Exiles' wing Justin Bishop followed his fellow Irish international Eddie Halvey over the Sale line, guaranteeing a fourth victory from six starts.

Time and time again, Sale's management team were left with heads in hands, frustrated by some schoolboy errors which made the Exiles' task that much easier.

Former Sale scrum-half Kevin Ellis kept Irish on the front foot through a clever tactical performance, and with Conor O'Shea providing an assured presence as the last line of defence their convincing half time lead proved more than enough.

Skipper O'Shea completed Sale's misery through an injury-time touchdown when he collected Cunningham's clever inside pass, and the conversion saw Cunningham finish with 13 points.

Sale captain Alex Sanderson touched down in the game's final move. Heavy pre-match rain made conditions difficult, and both sides were guilty of ruining promising approach work through spilling the final pass.

Irish prop Mike Worsley underlined this frustrating series of events when he dropped the ball after Ellis had done all the hard work.

Cunningham booted the home side into an early lead, and after Sale were subjected to a concerted spell of pressure, Irish pulled further away when flanker Halvey was driven over by his fellow forwards from a lineout.

Cunningham converted and then kicked another penalty, and despite Irish losing Halvey through injury just before the break, Sale couldn't get into the game.

A superb tackle by Ellis prevented Sale centre Dan Harris from claiming a likely try, and Irish built on that magnificent defensive work to increase their advantage through another Cunningham penalty.

Mistakes and wrong options continued to blight the second half, and Sale were finished when Bishop rounded off a thrilling counter-attack after the visitors had enjoyed a spell camped in Irish's 22.